What you don’t know can’t help you: public perception of COVID-19 loan repayment moratoria

Katharina Allinger () and Elias Farnleitner

OeNB Bulletin, 2024, issue Q2/2024-1, 43

Abstract: We analyze public perceptions of borrower relief measures, i.e. loan repayment moratoria, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to better understand potential frictions in the transmission of these policies. Using data from an international survey, we document substantial cross-country differences in respondents’ awareness and use of borrower relief measures, their attribution of the measures to different institutions and their reasons for not using the measures. We relate these findings to differences in the designs of moratoria across countries, concluding that respondents’ awareness and use is positively correlated with how borrower-friendly the measures were. Regarding respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics, we find that awareness is correlated with several characteristics, including ownership of financial assets and liabilities or the level of education and financial literacy. In terms of policy conclusions, we are most concerned by respondents’ low awareness of borrower relief measures in some countries and by potential implications resulting from high shares of borrowers reporting that they did not use the measure due to ineligibility.

Keywords: loan moratoria; household finance; COVID-19; policy evaluation; Central-; Eastern- and Southeastern Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G28 G51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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